Machinery and method for making receptacles



E. CRAIG MACHINERY AND METHOD FOR MAKING RECEPTACLES Filed July 18 19214 Sheets-Sheet l Oct. 14, 1924. 1,511,320

E. CRAIG MACHINERY AND METHOD FOR MAKING RECEPTACLES Filed July 18 19214 Sheets-Sheet 2 Oct. 14. 1924- 1,511,320

E. CRAIG MACHINERY AND METHOD FOR MAKING RECEPTACLES Filed July 18 19214 Sheets-Sheet 3 lid/67 M021 filial/(212:! 672229 Oct. 14, 1924.1,511,320

E. CRAIG MACHINERY AND METHOD FOR MAKING RECEPTACLES Filed July 18 19214 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented @ct, Ed, rose career WWARD GRAKG, OF ST.JOSEPH,,MICHIG&N.

MACHINERY AND METHOD FOR MAKIIIG RECEPTACLE$.

Application filed. July 18, 1921. Serial No. 485,738.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that l, EDWARD CRAIG, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of St. Joseph, county oi Berrien, State of Michigan, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Machinery and Methodsfor Making Receptacles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to machinery for making ice cream pails, orsimilar receptacles, and is in the nature of an improve ment on theconstruction and mode of operation shown and described in the co-pendingapplication Serial Number 485,128, filed 15th day of July, 1921. (Patentgranted September 23, 1924.) In said prior application, as in thisapplication, the blanks are formed obliquely to the sheet or long stripof paper from which the blanks are cut by the blankin machine, beforethe blanks are fed to the iorming machine by which each blank is foldedto form a pail or other receptacle. Also, as in said prior application,the present invention involves the presentation of each blank to theforming means in such a manner that the blank stands squarely in theforming machine, instead of obliquely or at an angle as it does in theblanking machine, whereby waste is minimized or considerably reduced,without reducing the size of the pails or other receptacles. In saidprior co-pending application this is accomplished by turning the formingmachine partially around, so that it stands at an angle to the directionof travel of the long sheet or strip of paper from which the blanks aremade, whereby the longitudinal center line of the machine is disposed atan angle to the longitudinal center line of the blanking prws, or to thedirection of travel of the sheet from the printing press to the blankingpress and from the latter to the forming machine. in other words, theblanks are formed at an angle to the length of the sheet or strip ofpaper, and the forming machine is disposed at the same angle,

whereby when the finished blank at the end of the sheet reaches theforming machine, the blank is in correct position for the foldingthereof. In accordance with the present invention, however, the saidforming machine stands squarely in line with the blanking press and theprinting press, so that the longitudinal center line of each machine isthe same as that of the others. However, in order to present the blanksproperly to the forming means, after being thus formed obliquely to thelength of the sheet in the blanking press, the forming machine isprovided with means for automatically turning each blank partiallyaround in the forming machine, so that it will stand squarely in foldingposition relatively to the folding means. In other words, in each casethe blank has one position in the blanking press, and a difierentposition in the forming machine, relatively to each machine, but in.said prior application this is accomplished by turning or skewing theforming machine partially around, while in this application, as willhereinafter more fully appear, thedesired result is accomplished byturning the blank itself partially around at about the time that itarrives in position to be folded. In either case, however, the desiredsaving of materials is accomplished, as the sheet or strip of paper, forany given size of pail, is somewhat narrower than would be the case werethe blanks formed squarely thereon, or with the rectangular bottomsection of each blank in position with two of its edges'parallel withthe length of the sheet and the other two edges at right angles thereto,for in such case the sheet would have to be much wider in ordertoprovide sufficient material for certain "flaps with which each blankis desirably provided in order to produce a pail or receptacle ofdesired character. According to the present invention, the printingpress feeds the sheet of paper to the hlankin press, and from the latterthe connected blanks are caused to feed forward to the forming machine.This is advantageous, of course, as fully set forth in said otherapplication, and in addition the cutting of the blanks in the mannerdescribed tends to -minimize waste, and while this is accomfor makingice cream pails, embodying the principles of the invention.

Figure 2 is a plan of said machine.

Figure 3 is an enlarged lan of certain portions of said machine, ilustrating more particularly the method of forming the blanks and ofdelivering the same successively to the forming means of the machine bywhich the blanks are folded and provided with bail shaped wire handles.

Figure 4 is a detail fragmentary sectional view showing the device forpartially turning each blank around at about the time that it arrives inthe desired position for the folding thereof by said forming means.

Figure 5 is an enlarged vertical section on line 55 in Figure 1.

Figure 6 is a perspective of the finished ail. I p Figure 7 is anenlarged plan of one of the blanks shown in Figure 3.

As thus illustrated, the invention comprises a suitable base 1 uponwhich are mounted in suitable manner the printing press 2, the blankingpress 3 and the forming machine 4 by which 'the blanks are folded andequipped with the bail shaped wire handles. As explained in said priorapplication, the printing press has rolls 5' for receiving the paperbetween them, the upper roll having impression means 6 thereon disposedobliquely or at an angle thereto. The paper is fed from roll 7 as usual,to said printing press, and is fed by feed rolls 8 to the blanking press3, the latter being adapted to form the blanks obliquely or at an angleto the length of the sheet 9 of paper. For this purpose, of course, theupper and lower dies 10 and 11 of the blanking press are suitablyconstructed and provided with means for cutting and creasing and scoringthe paper to produce the foldable blank shown in Figure 3, and shown ona lar er scale in Figure 7, it being observed t at, the rectangularbottom section 12 of each blank does not stand squarely on the longsheet or strip of paper, but is twisted or skewed partly around until itstands at an angle tosaid sheet or strip of paper. blanks formed by theblanking press are connected to ether at their front and rear edges 13an 14, while the side edges 15 of the blanks are formed by the two sideedges of the long sheet or strip of paper, it being observed that eachblank is practically square or rectangular in form, the flaps for thecover of the pail being formed at the four corners of each blank. Werethe blanks formed squarely or at. right angles to or parallel with thelength of the sheet, which position is indicated in dotted lines at 16in Figure 3, it will be seen that these fla of the blank wouldnecessitate the provision of a much wider sheet or strip In this way thedesired character, the blank must stand squarely in folding position,relatively to the forming means, as indicated in dotted lines at 16, inFigure 3, and hence. the necessity for causing each blank to have aposition in the forming machine which is different from the positionwhich is occupies in the blanking press. In the present case, as shownmore clearly in Figures 3 and 1, this is accomplished by partiallyturning the blank itself around -into the desired position, whereby theforming machine 4 may standsquarely in line with the other two machines.For this purpose a lever 17 is pivoted 011 the forming machine at 18 andis connected by a link 19 with the lGVGI 20 which carries some sort ofmeans 21 for engaging the cam groove 22 of the rotary cam 23 on thetransverse shaft 2-1 of said machine. The upper end of the lever 17works in a slot 25 in the top or table of the forming machine. At theproper time, it will be seen, the upper end portion of the lever 17engages the blank to turn the latter partially around in the mannershownand described; Of course, before this can be done, the blank mustbe cut off or severed from the long sheet or strip ofpaper, and

this is done in the present case by meansof a knife orcuttin device 26which is pivoted at 27 on the forming machine, and which is operated inany suitable or desired manner to cut the paper along the lines 13 and'14 to sever the blanks successively from the long sheet or strip ofpaper. It will be understood that the various operating parts are sotimed or governed in their action that the knife or cutting device 26cuts off the blank at the proper time, and so that the lever. 17 thenskews or turns the blank partially around until it occupies the desiredposition in the forming machine. Of course, the long sheet or strip ofpaper is fed intermittently in the blanking. press, so that it standsstill while being blanked in the blanking press 3, and while this pressis forming the blank, the forming machine 4 is folding another blank andapplying the wire handle thereto. At such time there are twocompleteblanks between the one which is being formed and the. one whichis being folded, as will be seen from an inspection of Figure 3 of thedrawings. The printing press may feed the paper continuously, as iscommon, or in any suitable manner. Hence the feeding means are so timedthat the sheet or strip of paper is caused to move in the desiredmanner, through the blanking press from the printing press to theforming machine, thus gradually converting the sheet or strip of paperinto pails or other receptacles of any desired form or character. Toassist in the adjustment of the blank in the posi-' tion indicated bydotted lines 16 in Figure 3 a stationary stop or engag'in device 28 isprovided on the table of tl ie forming machine, to engage one forwardcorner of the blank, so that by the proper operation of the lever 17 theblank is twisted or skewed around until it occupies the positionnecessary for the folding thereof.

It will be understood that the printing press or blanking press can beof any suitable or known character, such as those referred to in saidprior application, the exact construction being unimportant,except thatthe printing means and the blanking means must be disposed in positionto form the blanks obliquely or at an angle on the sheet or long stripofpaper, in order to economize in the use of materials. The formingmachine may be of any suitable character, such as the one referred to insaid prior application, the exact construction being unimportant, andthe only requirement being that some means he provided, in thisparticular case, in order to amomplish the purpose of the improvement,for skewing or turning the blank partially around into the positionwhich it must occupy in the forming machine, as distinguished from theposition which it occupies with good results in the blanking press. Likethe blanks and pails shown in said prior application, the

method and machinery involved in this case produce blanks and pailshaving two-ply overlapping flaps or double thickness portions 29 and 30at opposite sides of each pail. This is done with the blanking press, ofcourse, this machine being adapted to blank out portions of the paper orother sheet material in such a manner that each blank, when folded inthe manner shown and described, has the two overlapping flaps 291 and 30at the opposite sides of the pail on the outer sides thereof disposed insuch position that the externally arranged two-ply flaps are thenfastened together in the forming machine by the insertion of fasteningmeans in the desired manner. Any suitable fastening means. can beemployed, of course, but in the present case the receptacle shown anddescribed is a pail and, as such, it desirably has a bail shaped wirehandle 31, the ends of which are inserted in position to form saidfastening means. lin other words the opposite ends oi the handle areinserted through five thicknesses of sheet material at each side of thepail,.the forming machine being adapted to not only fold the blanks inthis manner, but also to bend and insert the handles 31 in the desiredmanner.

Thus when the blank is made its bottom .12 is at an angle of forty-fivedegrees to the length of the strip, but when skewed into foldingposition said bottom is at right angles to said strip. in this way theblank is only skewed after being cut oil, and is still in line centrallywith the center line of travel of the strip. The pail machine 4 has itstransverse dimension at right angles to the straight line of travel fromthe blanking press, and the longitudinal dimension of all three machinesis parallel with said line of travel.

With the construction and mode of operation so described, in the exampleor embodiment of the invention disclosed, it will be seen that no partof the sheet feeding means ever touches a severed blank, for the blankis not cut ofi until after the blank ahead has been converted into areceptacle, and not until after the blank to be severed has beenreleased from the sheet or strip feeding means. Necessarily, therefore,the method involves the conversion of each blank into a pail or otherreceptacle before the next blank is cut off. Each severed blank, then,is skewed into position by the finger or lever '17, and is thenconverted into a receptacle by the upward stroke of the plunger 32 shownin dotted lines in Fig. 1 of the drawings, it being understood that thisplunger is adapted to co-operate with devices (not shown) of anysuitable character to fold the different portions of the blankpreliminary to the insertion of the ends of the handle 31, thereby toproduce the receptacle shown in Figure 6 of the drawings. The pail orreceptacle forming machine is, therefore, of any suitable, known orapproved form, and of whatever form is disposed directly in line withthe blanking press, and directly in line with the straight line of feedof the sheet or strip from which the blanks are made. Consequently, theforming machine, because of the skewing device, is permitted to standtransversely of the line of feed, so that its transverse dimension is atright angles to it the line of feed of the strip or sheet of paper, andwhereby the transverse dimension of the forming machine is parallel.with the transverse dimension of the blanking press, as well as parallelwith the transverse dimension of the printing press. Necessarily,therefore, each blank is skewed or turned an eighth of a full rotationabout a vertically disposed axis, and converted into .a pail, or otherreceptacle, before the next blank is cut ed. The vertical axis about Nilllii

which the severed 'blank is skewed is on the longitudinal center line ofthe sheet or strip of paper, so that the blank by its skewing motion isnot displaced laterally, but is merely given an eighth of a completerotation about its vertical axis and is moved forward a distance tobringit into -the position necessary for the folding thereof and for theattachment to the handle of the receptacle. As stated, though, theskewing and conversion of the severed blank into a receptaclenecessarily take place before another blank can be cut oil", but in themeantime other blanks are in various stages or process of preparation.

Of course,,with the construction and arrangement shown and described,the feed: ing motion of the sheet or strip is employed to feed theblanks into the forming machme.

Each blank needs :some skewing or readjustment after it is received intothe forming machine, but nevertheless each blank arrives in the formingmachine before it is cut off, and each blank is converted into areceptacle before thenext blank is severed from the stri or sheet. 5,

What I claim as my invention is:

1. The process of making receptacles,

comprising the feeding of a long sheet or strip'of paper, blanking outportions of said paper to form blanks for the making of the receptacles,cutting off the blanks successively, skewing or partially turning eachcut off blank around into the position required for the folding thereof,by turning the blank one-ei hth of a full rotation about a verticallyisposed axis which is still in line with I the center of the strip whenthe blank reaches the folding position, when viewed from above, so thatprior to folding the blank has only this skewmg motion after being cutoff, and then folding the blank to produce the desired receptacle,whereby each severed blank is necessarily converted into a receptaclebefore another blank is severed from the strip.

2. The rocess specified in claim 1, in which the lanking is done in sucha manner that the blanks are. disposed obliquely or at forty-five degreeangles to the length of the sheet or strip of paper, thereby necessitating said skewing or turning of the severed blank inorder to place itat right angles to said strip and in correct position for the foldingthereof.

3. The process specified in claim 1, comprising the insertion of a bailshaped wire of the blanks, the printing being so ositioned that saidskewing or turning o the blanks. is necessary in order to bring theprinted portions thereof into position for the proper folding of eachblank.

5. The process specified in claim 1, comprising theformation of two-plyflaps or overlapping portions of double thickness, so

that one two-ply flap overlaps another twoply flap at opposite sides ofthe receptacle, and inserting fastening means throu h the fivethicknesses thus producedat eac side of the receptacle.

6. The process specified in claim 1, comprising the formation ofoverlapping twoply flaps at opposite sides of the receptacle, thusforming five thicknesses at each side of the receptacle, and theinsertion at opposite ends of a wire handle through the five thicknessesat each side of the receptacle, thereby to'hold the two-ply flaps inposition externally of the receptacle.

7. In machinery for making receptacles, the combination of a blankingpress, means for feeding a sheet or long strip of paper through saidblanking press, whereby the blanking press ,is operative to formsuccessive blanks onthe sheet, a forming machine arranged to receive theblanks from the blanking press, by the feeding motion of the sheet orstrip of paper, means for successively cutting off the blanks as theyarrive still attached to the strip in the form-' ing'machine, means forautomatically skewing or partially-turning each severed blank aroundfrom its position on the strip and into the position necessary for thefolding thereof, operative to stop the blank in position with its centerstill in line Wit ll the center of the strip, when viewed from above,and means to drive said 'machinery, whereby each severed blank isnecessarily converted into a receptacle before another blank is severedfrom the strip.

8. A structure as specified in claim 7, said blankin press beingoperative to form the blanks o liqucly or at an angle to the len th ofthe sheet or strip of paper, and sai forming machine being disposedsquarely in line with tlie blanking press and the line of feeding motionof the long sheet or strip of paper, thereby requiring said skewing orturning of the severed blank in order to enable it to stand squarely inthe forming machine, instead of obliquely as it stands in the blankingpress.

9. A structure as specified in claim 7, in combination with means forprinting certain marks on the aper, before the latter arrives in theblan ing press, so that the paper thus both printed and blanked outmeans for skewing orturning the blanks almanac into folding positioncomprising a stationary stop for engaging one portion of the blank and amovable element for engaging another portion thereof.

11. A structure as specified in claim 7, said feeding means. comprising.a'printing press having a roll for placing certain marks on the sheetbefore the latter arrives in the blanking press, said printing press andblanking press and forming machine being disposed all squarely in linewith each other, so that each machine is parallel with the line oftravel of said strip, and said blankin press being adapted to form theblanks I ob iquely or at angles to the length of the sheet or strip ofpaper, so that said skewing or turning of each severed blank isnecessary inorder to enable the blank to stand squarely in the forminmachine, instead of obliquely as it stan s in the blanking press.

12. In machinery of the, class discribed, the combination of a blankingpress, means for feeding a sheet or long strip of paper to and throughand from said blanking press, so that certain portions of the paper areblanked out on the sheet, a forming machine to receive the blanks fromthe blanking press, and a device to automatically cut w 011' the endblank, said forming machine.

standing-squarely in line and parallel with and at right angles to thestraight line of travel from blanking press, and the center of the blankin the forming machine being inline with the center of the strip, whenviewed from above, together with means to drive said machinery wherebyeach severed blank 1s necessarlly converted into a recepta-' cle beforeanother blank is severed from the to strip. J

13; Astructure as specifiedin claim 12, in combination with means forsevering the blanks from the sheet, as they arrive in the formingmachine, and means for properly positioning each severed blank in theform-- ing machine.

14. A structure as specified in claim 12,

in combination with means for automatically positioning each blank inthe proper po- 7, which it occupies in the blanking press.

sition for the folding thereof in said forming machine.

15. A structure as specified in claim 12, in combination with means forsuccessively severing the blanks from the sheet or strip of paper asthey arrive in the forming machine, and for automatically skewing orpartially turning each severed blank around to bring it into a positionin the forming machine which is didercnt from the position 16. Inmachinery for making receptacles, the combination of a printing pressfor feeding a sheet or long strip of paper with the printing disposedobliquely thereon, a blanking press arranged to receive the obliquelydisposed printed portions of the paper, and adapted to convertsaidprinted portions into obliquely disposed blanks, a receptacleforming machine arranged to receive the blanks from the blankingpress,by it) the feeding motion of the sheet or long strip of-paper,said printing press and blanking press and forming machine all standingsquarely in line with each other, and parallel with the path of feed, sothat the transverse dimension of each machine is at right angles to theline of travel of said strip,

means to sever the blanks as they arrive in the forming machine, so thatthe delivery position of each blank ,in the forming machine is obliquelyor at an angle to the length of the sheet or strip of paper, when viewedfrom above, which is the same as the position of the blank in theblanking press, and instrumentalities for thereafter skewing orpartially turning each severed blank around into the position necessaryfor the folding thereof, with the center of the skewed blank still inline with the center of the strip, when viewed from above, so that eachblank when folded stands squarely in the. folding machine, instead ofobliquely as it does in the blanking press, whereby each severed blankis necessarily converted into a receptacle before another blank issevered from the strip.

EDWARD CRAIG.

